In the midst of settling into a new life with his growing family, a man found himself the target of his neighbor’s envy.

When the neighbor’s attempt to outdo him led to an invasion of privacy, a cleverly constructed pergola and some playful revenge changed the dynamic of their suburban standoff.

Read on to find out how it all went down.

I can build a better/bigger one

So a friend of mine, got married, bought a house, and then had a couple of kids.

As he made his way through life, he got padding pools, a trampoline, bikes – the usual things that you get with a young family.

Thing was that he works in a hospital, and a lot of the time, the older people who had the kids years ago would be getting rid of stuff (most of it in really good condition) and they would ask if anyone wanted it.

Free to a good home kind of thing.

The man caught the watchful eye of his neighbors.

So basically he had loads of really cool stuff for his kids. Neighbours wife noticed, and would nag her husband about it, my friend offered him some of the things.

He said that he wasn’t a charity case and that he could look after his own family.

Mate thinks he touched a nerve so left it there.

Then he noticed something unusual beginning to happen.

A while later, my friend got a swing set with a slide, so the neighbour got one too, only his was bigger and had a shed on top, and is right up to the hedge, so that when the neighbours kids hang out, they are able to see in my friends back garden and some of the house.

So here comes the petty revenge.

Mate comes to work and he is annoyed, he knows that if he just asked the neighbour to move the shed/swing set he would get laughed at.

He needed to think bigger.

So he came up with a better solution.

He would build a pergola, a heavy duty one with a solid roof, and he needed some help.

So most of the estate workers, a few doctors and a couple of nurses went over to his house to help, by the time we had finished, there was a really cool treehouse style kids play area with railing all the way around a little dining area.

They constructed nothing short of a marvel of engineering.

It also included a beautiful decorated shed all located on top of the pergola, looking into the neighbours garden and blocking the neighbours kids view of his garden.

He knew that this would really tick his neighbour off, so he made sure that everything could be removed (takes him about 3 minutes to put up there and about the same to take down)

The trap was set, so now he waits.

Couple of days later it’s a nice day, he’s in the garden, his kids are in the garden all is good.

Then the neighbours kids appear on their shed, so my mate erects the pergola roof, play house his kids play, neighbours kids get very angry, and go and fetch their dad.

Neighbour completely loses it, calling my mate all the names under the sun, threatening him with violence.

But he’ll have proof this time.

All the time my mate is recording him.

Ends up with the neighbour saying that he’s going to phone the police and storms off.

About an hour later, the police turn up, talk to the neighbours, then they come round to my mates house.

He shows them it’s not a permanent structure, and takes it down, but all the while the neighbours kids are on top of their shed laughing and pointing at my friend, thinking he’s getting in trouble.

He explains the situation to the police.

My mate says that the only reason he built it, is that he doesn’t want to have to deal with that every time he is in the garden, also shows the police the view from his house and the rooms, the neighbours kids can see into.

All the time this is happening, the neighbours kids are waving at him and making rude gestures.

Mate then shows the police the video.

Justice is about to be served.

Police have seen and heard enough, they go back next door and tell the neighbour he has to take the shed slide thing down.

They tell him if he doesn’t, he will get done for breach of the peace as there is video evidence.

Mate’s kids still use the pergola tree house, but know not to engage with the neighbours.

Let’s hope this overly competitive neighbor learned a thing or two.

The right kind of intervention at the right time makes a world of difference.

They do things a little differently across the pond.

This redditor thinks it’s a great story all around!

This user points out more regional differences.

With the neighbor’s shed slide dismantled and the tension diffused, peace returned to the backyard.

The grass isn’t always greener on the other side.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.